penguins and fairies - Cross Stitch Crazy 246

This week issue 246 of Cross Stitch Crazy hits the UK shops and it`s a double whammy for me: I stitched not only the free gift that comes with the mag but a gorgeous fairy pic inside it too... ooh, and I`ve just spotted that it`s on the cover as well (how observant am I? Looked at it a dozen times but only saw the fairy when I took this photo 😂):

Oooh, love the autumn colours on those cards... and that Northern Lights pic is stunning! #easilydistracted Anyway, first up, the cover kit. It`s a sweet little skating penguin designed by Helz Cuppleditch:

Isn`t he the cutest? 😃 With his wings behind his back, he reminds me of The Skating Minister (even though the Reverend crosses his arms in front of him, but the impression of the casual gliding on ice is the same). 😊 And he - the penguin, not the Reverend Robert Walker - got a very nice aperture card as a finishing touch:

Next up: the fairies. I`m not that much into fantasy stuff but even I have to admit that this is a gorgeous picture. The original artwork of Margaret Tarrant, Lady`s Slipper Fairy (1933), was expertly converted into a cross stitch chart by Fiona Baker; usually, stitchers don`t exactly look froward to doing the backstitch but on this piece, I couldn`t wait to get to that stage. The details on the hands and faces are so minute - just look how a few well-placed stitches transform this pasty blotch (sorry, fairy!) into a face with expressive features! And look at these hands! Wow! 😮

Hehe, that smiling face on the wing always cracks me up btw: without the backstitch, it looks like a kawaii fairy wing. 😂 And here`s the whole picture framed - I love it and hope you like it too. 😊 Happy stitching!

Addendum: the kind words of Malgorzata in the comments below reminded me of this photo I`d taken when the fairy project arrived with all these beautiful skeins of thread, simply because I found them stunning - how gorgeous are these autumn colours? 😍😍😍

memory jars - Cross Stitcher 334

What a great wee surprise to come back to from holiday: Susan Bates` memory jars pic is out in the latest issue of Cross Stitcher! 😃

"Surprise" because it was supposed to be in issue 335, according to my paperwork, but some projects must have been shuffled around - maybe just to amaze me with yet another strange little coincidence in life? (Yeah, coz the universe is out there to amuse me.) 😆 Anyway, so while on holiday, we went to see my BFF, who works as an event organiser for one of the museums in Budapest, and they recently opened a Frida Kahlo exhibition.

Obviously, that is not inside the museum: it`s the Wee Man posing with Eugene of Savoy just outside, because he has to climb up on every single thing. (My son, not Eugene of Savoy). Anyway, so imagine my surprise when I came back and saw this cover:

What are the odds, eh? *shakes head, bemused* And the next surprise was to finally learn the name of the designer of the memory jars (for some reason, it`s never included on the paperwork that I get with Stitcher projects). Although with this one, I had my suspicions. 😉 My first clue was the beach scene, but the warm yellows, reds and oranges seemed familiar too, I think they`re very characteristic of her designs, and now the mag confirmed that it is, indeed, by Susan Bates. 😊

I thoroughly enjoyed stitching this project. Each jar took 4-5 hours (40 hours in total), so I did 1 or 2 a day, depending on my mood, just revelling in the feeling of accomplishment that you get when you stitch card-sized designs that you can start and finish within one day. The colours are gorgeous, the backstitch gave each little pic amazing detail, the captions were quick work, loved the easiness of the aida... as I said, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole project. 😉 I took a photo of each individual wee scene, the lighting (as usual) is not the greatest but hopefully, you can nevertheless see a bit more detail. Happy stitching!

free cover gifts - WOCS 271 and Crazy 245

Just a short post this time because I`m on holiday - not "out of the country holiday" yet, just the sort of holiday where I`m having cake for breakfast (long story).

Anyway, there are two publications in the shops this week that have my wee stitchings as cover kits: Emma Congdon`s design in issue 245 of Cross Stitch Crazy (and it`s a REAL postcard too! 😮) and a little red dress, based on Lynn Horrabin`s artwork, in issue 271 of The World Of Cross Stitching.

Hope you like them, have a fabulous summer! 😊